Lucky Silver Sun
by Yemi Hikari
Summary: One never knows which way the wind will blow regarding ones luck, but Shiro feels quite lucky after the other paladins find him. In fact, his luck seems to pay off for Pidge as they locate one of her family members.
1. Luck of the Draw

_Disclaimer – I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender. This was written for Wattpad's Fanfic Friday contest. This one required writers to write a bucket list of things a favorite character would do if they had a string of good luck. (That's not going to be posted due to site rules.) Then one was to write a story based on one of those ideas, and only one, incorporating other items on the list after the contest was gone. I'm posting all four chapters I wrote for the contest today as judging was delayed a week, and I've been waiting to update this fic._

 _Note – For the four chapters I wrote for the contest, I focused on number four finding Pidge's dad and brother in no particular order." And yes, Shiro is acting strange after they find him. The story is written in third person limited, the POV being Shiro's, and will switch in chapter five to Keith's._

 **Lucky Silver Sun  
** _ **Luck of the Draw**_

Shiro felt lucky.

The young man lay in his comfortable bed in the dark, the silence washing over him. Absentmindedly he reached up to trace the scar which ran across the bridge of his nose with his left thumb, his lips opening up to let out a sigh as Shiro continued to let himself sleep in. His usually tense muscles relaxed as he sunk into the bed, enjoying the fact he was home, or at least his home away from home.

A warm blanket wrapped around his legs, having shuffled down during the night. The black paladin's eyes flickered open, looking up at the dark ceiling above, his lips pushing together as his mind contemplated the silence. The fingers of his mechanical right arm flexed, and nonsensical words came out of his mouth in response to waking up, his eyes blinking away the groggy feeling brought on by a good, solid night's sleep.

His mouth was dry, and yet Shiro had not felt that relaxed in a very long time.

Standing up from his bed, he moved to the door which swished open mechanically before falling into his normal routine of checking on the other paladins. Mentally his disappearance from the lion had yet to register, having no reference or memory of the time passing between the two events. The black paladin simply knew he felt good, being back with the other paladins in this home away from home.

Nothing, in truth, felt like it could go wrong.

In fact, if Slav showed up at that moment spouting off yet another one of his insane probability scenarios as well as the chances of dying, there was certain doubt in his mind that he would lose his cool like before. Shiro was simply in too good of a mood and feeling _lucky_. A thought flickered through his mind as he continued with his routine. " _Why shouldn't I feel lucky? I'm alive, and the war with Zarkon is over. The whole Galra prisoner business is over, isn't it?_ "

The sound of voices drew him to the bridge, his eyes blinking as he looked at the other four Paladins, and Allura. His eyes blinked, their words not quite yet registering, though he did pick up on the fact Keith and Lance were glaring at each other. His presence by everyone but the red paladin, however, was in fact registered, and they stopped talking. Shiro's dark eyes blinked a couple of times, and his mouth opened hesitantly. "Um, good morning you guys?"

Keith's head darted away from Lance, his mind registering the fact the conversation had stopped, his eyes widening. The red paladin spoke in his own hesitant manner. "Oh. Good morning Shiro."

Lance's mouth twisted into a frown before his hands shot up in frustration. "Keith, it's not morning anymore. Seriously."

Keith's dark-blue eyes blinked a couple of times as his mind attempted to register what Lance said. Shiro held back a chuckle as the red paladin's eyes widened, the younger teen's mouth forming a circle for a few seconds before speaking. "Oh. That's right."

The black paladin let his lips push together, pleased with the fact thing still seemed unchanged. "I guess I slept in longer than I thought."

The smallest of the paladins spoke up, pushing up her glasses as she did so. "Keith thought you needed some time to rest because when we found you, you were really out of it."

"Then Keith's been a good leader?" A silence fell over the room as the other paladins and Allura simply stared. Shiro's mind remained in the haze, wondering why he received such a reaction from his words. "Keith did become leader, right? That's what I wanted to happen?"

"Yes." Pidge pushed up on her glasses. "Not that there was much of a choice, considering…"

The black paladin's mouth moved into a frown, trying to still comprehend the silence. "Considering?"

Hunk smiled, his chubby cheeks becoming even more prominent as he did so. The yellow paladin's hands rose up, held up to try and stay off Shiro jumping to conclusions. "Keith wasn't a bad leader."

"Then he was a good one." Relief almost washed over the black paladin, only for two voices to pierce through the serenity in a manner only _they_ could.

"As if," both Keith and Lance said at the same time.

The feeling of relief was washed over instantly with unabandoned amusement, a much different demeanor than his normal dark mood that he'd been experiencing over the last year or so. Shiro felt he kept said the mood in check so nobody noticed, but also hoped that his amusement was also now in check. "Amazing. You two are actually agreeing on something."

"No!" Keith's arms crossed his chest, his mouth forming into a pout as he glared at Shiro. Said frown was likely escalated as the black paladin's mouth broke out into a grin, having always found the red paladin's sordid protests regarding anything outside his social comfort zone – which was indeed quite limited – amusing.

"Nuh, uh." Lance folded his own arms. "Well, I guess we agree on that one thing. He's making me go with Hunk to gather supplies."

"So?" This comment from Shiro resulted in Lance's voice cracking in a rather embarrassing manner for a male teen before the young man took off. The black paladin's eyes blinked, taking in a deep breath as he did so.

"Thanks a lot, Shiro." Keith's arms dropped to his side and he too headed off the bridge. Before he left, he piped up saying. "I'll be in the training room with Kolivan."

"Kolivan?" The black paladin noticed the looks of pity on the others faces.

"Not cool Shiro." Hunk piped up, before also heading off the bridge. "I'll go talk to Lance."

Shiro frowned, trying to take things in. "So, I honestly don't know what I did, but also don't know what's up with this training Keith is going through with Kolivan?"

"Something like Keith finding his inner Galra, or something like that." Pidge pushed up on her glasses, before returning to the computers.

Allura glared at him, her arms crossed. The stern look was one she normally reserved for the other paladins, making Shiro feel a little sheepish. "Lance was mad at Keith for sending him away before you woke up because they both seem to be of the opinion that you favor Keith."

"When did I ever favor Keith?" Shiro's hands flopped at his side, palms up in protest. "Have I actually treated Keith differently than any of you?"

The green paladin frowned, glaring at Shiro. "Me?"

"Yes, you Pidge."

"Kind of. But you're actually _harder_ on Keith then you are anybody else."

"I don't know. Keith let you hug him, and you've never hugged anybody else." Allura continued to glare at him, as if something were bothering her, or that she'd caught onto something. Shiro felt creeped out this time instead of sheepish.

He could have said, " _I practically raised the kid_ ," but knew this delved into a private area Keith might not like him sharing. His familial relationship with Keith though led to the perfect topic to change the subject too. "So, Pidge, have you found anything regarding your dad or your brother."

"No." The green paladin seemed honestly bummed out as she moved the holographic image. "I've been looking for some time, but none of the distress signals have any indicator that Matt may be involved."

Shiro reached up to touch the hologram, randomly touching one of the non-distress signals received by the ship. "Have you thought to look at any of the other messages sent in, like this one?"

"They're just spam, Shiro, advertisements."

Without thinking, Shiro opened up the video message, a very familiar face appearing on screen. The black paladin's eyes blinked, feeling like his luck was for real, but also to good to be true, particularly when Pidge should have been able, in his opinion, to find this message.

Matt's familiar voice rang through the bridge. "I'm hoping the members of Voltron get this message. I heard your team is comprised of humans, but recently we heard that you guys defeated Zarkon. Is Shiro with you? I've been looking for you, and my dad. If not, maybe you guys could help me find them."

Pidge's glasses shifted down her jaw dropping, her small body unable to release the excitement just yet.


	2. Lucky Charm

**Lucky Silver Sun  
** _ **Lucky Charm**_

The cap on her excitement didn't remain long.

Shiro's arms crossed his chest in a relaxed manner as Pidge's excitement erupted. Nonsensical words sputtered from her mouth before she shot over to that part of the display, bringing up the location that the message was sent from. If there was something there to hug onto, she would have latched on in her excitement, and yet the console part of the ship was to the side of the hologram.

"It wasn't sent that long ago." Pidge's amber eyes widened. "Can we go get him?" Suddenly, the green paladin tugged on his sleeve, her mouth twisting into a pout as she begged him. "Please!"

Shiro's eyes blinked, wondering what kind of decision he should make, only to realize the occurrence of another piece of luck so he didn't have to personally think of all the ins and outs of the requested mission from the youngest paladin. "Last time I checked, Keith's leading Voltron right now."

Pidge's amber eyes blinked, her inquisitive mind thinking about what he said, one part of her mouth twisting slightly. Allura's eyes widened, her arms folded across her chest, before the green paladin took off, her entire being a ball of uncontrolled energy. "Shiro, that was mean."

"What?" The black paladin turned to look at her, thinking nothing of what he just said.

"You just pushed that off on Keith, when you could have easily said yes to her."

"So?" Shiro wasn't about to let Allura's comment dampen his good mood.

"You're the leader. I mean, the understanding was that Keith would be the leader until you got back."

"Why are you in such a hurry?"

"Why _aren't_ you in a hurry?"

"Because I have confidence in Keith's abilities." Shiro let his mind work over why Allura might possibly have a problem with his decision.

"Lance is right." Allura took a deep breath, one hand reaching up so her fingers could twist her long locks of white hair, her mouth forming into a pout. "You _do_ play favorites with him."

The black paladin's mind remained numb, his mind still not registering the current reality. Her words felt like a fog, and yet everything still seemed like it was going so well. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Having Keith take over as leader was one thing when you were MIA, but it's another now that you're back."

"So, you're saying he wasn't a good leader?" The lucky feeling which had replaced the dark feelings started to dislodge from his psyche. " _Another person who doesn't stop to see his potential._ "

"I didn't say that!" Allura's posture and tone indicated some kind of frustration, yet Shiro couldn't place the reason why.

"Then let me see for myself, that what I know to be true is. It's not as if anybody else in his life's ever given him a chance." The black paladin's thoughts twisted about in his mind, realizing suddenly that the conversation had become personal, possibly a bit more than he, or Keith for that matter, would really want.

Allura's crystal blue eyes blinked a couple of times, his comment registering in her head. Her dark fingers reached up to touch her lips lightly. "So, let me get this straight. You would like me to give Keith the chance others haven't by letting you take a step back."

"Yes." Shiro's eyes blinked once, wondering if the lucky feeling he felt was still going on. He wasn't sure though how Allura would act, as her temper could be just as fiery as the red paladins at the time. "And anyways, it's going to take the time to transition me back into the position of leader."

"You have a point, but…"

The voice of the red paladin interrupted her, loud and obviously upset. "Shiro!"

The black paladin felt a smile spread across his face, knowing exactly why Keith had come charging back onto the bridge. The green paladin was likely close behind. Allura stared at him, her eyes widening in horror. Shiro turned, looking at the younger teen as the red paladin's shoulders tensed up. "Something the matter Keith?"

"You know there's something the matter!" The red paladin pointed back at the green paladin, who had indeed followed Keith onto the bridge, and was now picking her nose. "You just told Pidge I'm still the leader."

"You guys just found me, and I don't know what's happened while I was gone." Shiro continued to beam at Keith, still feeling rather good about the whole situation.

Two dark-blue eyes looked into his own as if attempting to figure him out, before spluttering out a rather indignant response. "You're actually enjoying this!"

"Unfortunately, I've got to agree with you." Allura's tone of voice indicated she wasn't pleased, but in reality, he didn't care, the good feeling washing over him. "That said Keith, he had a point about having to transition back into the position of leader, what with how long he's been gone."

Shiro watched as Keith began to calm, Allura's words soothing the red paladin's mood. His jaw clenched, moving left and right, contemplating the situation. He finally sighed, folding his arms across his chest. "You're not going to let me get out of this, are you?"

"Nope." The black paladin's mouth continued to twist into a smile, pleased at the younger teen's reaction.

"You're evil."

"I know."

"Favorites…" Allura coughed into her hand, so only Shiro could hear, but he ignored it, the lucky feeling making him feel somewhat undefeatable, a nice change to the majorly defeated feeling rampaging through his mind prior to defeating Zarkon. Thankfully, his luck continued, and neither Keith or Pidge heard.

"So…" Keith turned to look at Pidge, looking at the smaller paladin as if she were a bug that he couldn't swat away.

"Are we going after my brother or not?" Pidge had in the meantime switched to picking wax out of her ear.

Shiro smiled, watching Keith carefully contemplating the situation. He felt lucky not to be thinking about the situation, thinking that there was something important beyond the need to bring Pidge's brother back home. The red paladin finally spoke in a slow manner. "Going after Matt's kind of a no-brainer."

"Good, because…"

"Wait. You can't go." Keith, of course, stepped on the symbolic land mine that Shiro felt his _luck_ managed to help him avoid, though he didn't know quite yet why the red paladin made the call he did.

"What do you mean?"

"I know Matt. The last thing I want to deal with his him finding out his baby sister is a paladin of Voltron, putting her life in danger, at least until we get him back to the Castle of Lions."

Shiro pushed his lips together, realizing that Keith had managed to bring up something which would extend his current streak of luck, as he didn't want to think of how Matt would actually react. The black paladin stopped, glancing over at the red paladin, remembering Keith referring to him as being like a brother. " _Maybe Matt's reaction wouldn't be that bad. Nah. Matt is Matt._ "

"Shiro!" Pidge turned to him to protest.

The black paladin shrugged his shoulders, lifting up his hand's palm up as he did. "Sorry, but he has a point. I think."

"You can stay with me!" Allura piped up. "We can do a ton of girl things!"

"Lovely."

Shiro felt the corners of his mouth twist at the look of utter defeat on Pidge's face, knowing full well that the green paladin wasn't looking forward to _girl things_. The thought of everything being normal, though, even though that might not last long helped the lucky feeling to continue.


	3. Lucky Monkey

**Lucky Silver Sun  
** _ **Lucky Monkey**_

"Lovely."

The pout on Pidge's face was amusing, and the corners of Shiro's mouth couldn't help but twist up. The antics of the younger paladins chased away the darkness, taking delight in their innocent youthfulness that he felt he himself had lost. The black paladin chose not to think much on the matter, preferring the good, positive feeling over the bad, negative one.

The two left the bridge then, heading to the place which held the regular shuttlecraft within the Castle of Lions. It wasn't that long after Pidge admitted utter defeat that a ball of energy crashed into Shiro's back before bouncing off. The black paladin turned, seeing that the youngest paladin had followed after, the look of determination back on her face. "Hold on a second Keith. Did you say you know my brother?"

Shiro watched Keith turn, his entire body tensing up. If the action wouldn't have caused more discomfort for the red paladin, the older teen would have chuckled. " _How are you going to handle this situation?_ " The red paladin handled the situation by looking at Shiro, a look of desperation on his face. Social interaction was far from his strong point. The older teen pushed his lips together and shook his head. "Sorry, but no."

Keith's disappointment squeaked out before he turned to head to the hanger. Shiro watched Pidge's lip curled up, and knew what was coming next. The very small, very limber paladin launched herself at the red paladin, clamoring up his back and nearly knocking the taller teen over. The black paladin continued to feel his mouth twist up in amusement, thinking suddenly that Keith would have made a great, if not highly awkward older brother.

For a minute the dark feelings flickered in, nearly knocking the good feeling from his mind. Keith turned to look over his shoulder. The red paladin let out a huff, before continuing to the hanger. His mouth twisted up in frustration. "Pidge! Get off of me! You can't come!"

"That's not what I want!"

Shiro took a deep breath, watching Keith's mouth continue to twist, but handle the situation awkwardly. The situation became even more awkward as the door opened up to the hanger, revealing the other two paladins. Lance stood with his arms crossing his chest. "Seriously, the way Shiro favors…" The blue paladin looked up with his companion, realizing two others had entered the room. "… Keith isn't fair."

"Hi! Nothing's happening here!" Hunk held up his hands as if to try and hold off some kind of argument.

Lance's blue eyes narrowed. "Keith, why do you have a Pidge monkey on your back."

"Honestly, I'd like to know the answer to that myself." The red paladin leaned over slightly. "Pidge, could you get off my back so that Shiro and I can go after your brother?"

"Hold on!" The blue paladin threw out his arms. "Are you telling me that you two are going _without_ Pidge to go after her brother? In other words, Shiro's playing favorites _again!_ "

"Actually, Keith's still in charge." The black paladin watched the red paladin's eyes drift over to look at him. Keith's dark-blue eyes were wide, his jaw dropped in disbelief. His mouth moved, likely to say Shiro was in fact evil, only for the blue paladin to react.

"You!" Lance pushed at Keith while Pidge still clung on. "What is with you, hogging Shiro like that!"

"Hey! Be careful. You might end up hurting Pidge by doing that."

The blue paladin's nostrils flared before he poked Keith in the chest. "How is this fair? You leaving Pidge out of finding her brother just so you can spend some time with Shiro! That's just wrong! Why can't you know, have Pidge and Hunk go to gather supplies, while you, me and Shiro team up for this mission? Huh?"

Keith crossed his arms, his discomfort regarding Pidge hanging onto his back remaining. His dark-blue eyes blinked, while Shiro's mouth twisted into a smirk, wondering how the red paladin would handle this dilemma. Keith's shoulders shrugged. "Okay."

"That…" Lance's eyes blinked." Wait…

"Yes!" Pidge's arms flew up in the air. "That means…"

Shiro's eyes widened as the green paladin finally managed to knock the red paladin off balance, and he toppled over onto her. The two younger paladins let out a groan, and the black paladin reached down to help them up. "You guys should be more careful."

"It wasn't my idea for Pidge to clamber up my back like a monkey."

"Yeah, well, Pidge is Pidge." The black paladin remembered fondly the time they encountered the sloth-like alien, and how Pidge had clamored up his own back when they both startled at the sudden action. "So you should know better."

The look Keith gave him then was an utter shock, and yet Shiro didn't care. Things were normal, and nobody ended up seriously hurt. The red paladin still had something to say about the incident. "You're evil Shiro! Super, super evil!"

"I know." The smirk spread across the black paladin's face, only to disappear when Shiro saw the glare upon Lance's face. Something was definitely upsetting the other paladin.

"I'm piloting." Lance piped up.

"Oh, no you're not," Keith muttered under his breath, crossing his arms across his chest.

Shiro took a deep breath, wondering if his luck had run out, only for Hunk to pipe up. "Wait, who's going to pilot our shuttlecraft?"

"How about Allura?"

The black paladin's eyes blinked, taking a deep breath. "I don't think Coran…" The four younger paladins glared at him, and he held up his hands, choosing to maintain his _luck_ by not arguing back about how the princess should likely stay with the Castle of Lions. "Okay, okay." Shiro watched as Pidge grabbed onto Hunk's arm, and then the green paladin proceeded to pull the yellow paladin away. "We'd better get going ourselves."

A smirk played across his face, as the black paladin was emotionally glad he was back with the other paladins. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught the look on Lance's face before the blue paladin turned to Keith. His attempt to whisper failed. "Hey, is Shiro feeling alright?'

"What do you mean?" Keith, of course, remained clueless as ever, making the smirk on Shiro's face remain even longer, but also cause his head to turn back.

"I don't know. He just seems…" Lance narrowed his eyes at Shiro as the red paladin began to prepare for the shuttlecraft launch.

"Evil?"

A laugh finally escaped Shiro's mouth even though he'd so far avoided anything that might set Keith off. The red paladin glared, while Lance whistled. The blue paladin shook his head, before pointing a finger at his head and indicated Shiro had lost it. "He's not normally this chipper."

Keith stared at the other teen who was around his own age, confused in regards to why the blue paladin would say that. "No, this is the way Shiro acts when he's in a good mood."

Lance slowly took in what Keith said before his eyes narrowed, and his mouth twisted into a frown. "You know, I'm not talking to you."

The black paladin held back a chuckle. Keith's dark-blue eyes blinked, his head tilting slightly as he tried understanding what his fellow paladin said. "Why not?"

"Shiro likes you more, that's why."

The person in question watched Lance get into the shuttle before turning to Keith. "So, I guess since Lance is coming, we'll have to talk later?"

Keith flinched, before turning to look him in the eye. After a few moments, which seemed longer than they really are, he took a deep breath. "Why?"

"Why not?"

"Because Lance hates it?"

"I could talk to him."

"Shiro, you've…" Keith's mouth snapped shut, refusing to tell the older teen that he was, in the red paladin's opinion, just making things work, thus making Shiro's lucky feeling remained. Finding Matt after all, after a year of being a Galra prisoner was indeed a good thing.


	4. Lucky Paladin

**Lucky Silver Sun  
** _ **Lucky Paladin**_

"How are we supposed to find him?"

Keith stood at the edge of the ledge overlooking the vast alien setting below them, noting the numerous amounts of places they would have to search for the older brother of the green paladin. Shiro's mouth twisted into a soft smile, knowing full well that Keith tended to look at the world in a very pessimistic manner, so he didn't worry.

At least that was until Lance, the paladin who tended to look at the world in a very optimistic manner spoke up. "You know, I hate to admit it, but Keith's actually right."

Shiro smiled at the two, before heading down into the vast city, letting the dust from the path travel up in the warm weather of that planet. "Come on. We won't know whether we can find Matt until we try."

Lance stared at his back, yet the sensation of the blue paladin doing this didn't faze him in the least. "Keith, are you sure Shiro's feeling okay?"

"I thought you weren't talking to me."

"Well?" The blue paladin pushed, rather loudly so Shiro could hear the conversation.

"I'm honestly confused as to why you're asking." Keith remained blunt, and to the point, as they traveled down the path.

"Why?" Shiro glanced back in time to see Lance's face twist up in an attempt to seem ultra-serious.

"Because Shiro's always like…" The blue paladin began to shake his finger. "Don't do this, don't do that, and do this!"

"He's not always like that."

"You! How do you know that!"

"Because…" Keith stopped speaking around this time, as Lance managed to shift the conversation to a personal place for the red paladin.

"Come on! This has to do with the fact he plays favorites with you! You're the prized genius of the garrison, who the previous genius took an interest in."

"Stow, it Lance." Shiro felt his mood changing, the worry of the losing the lucky feeling eating away at him. "You have no idea what you're talking about."

He turned to look at the other two paladins and noticed that Keith seemed upset, while Lance seemed confused. Then, the red paladin's cheeks puffed out, much, in the same manner, they did when Keith was younger. "Shiro! Seriously!" Shiro felt the red paladin brush by him. "You don't get it!" The older teen watched the other paladin as he continued down the path, turning to look at him. "And I'm so _not_ speaking with you!"

"Wow." Lance's voice came from behind, remaining dry.

"Don't worry. Keith's never stayed mad at me very long."

"You _really_ don't get it, do you?" The blue paladin let out a sigh. "Never mind. Let's find Pidge's brother. I actually feel lucky, considering the fact we were able to find you after a couple of weeks."

Shiro's eyes widened. "That long?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I feel lucky too."

A smile spread across Lance's face. "Does this mean we're having one of those macho bonding moments?"

"Um, no…" Shiro shook his head, continuing to smile. "We'd better catch up with Keith."

His suggestion didn't take long, as the red paladin wasn't that far ahead. A quick glance at Keith's facial features told Shiro that the red paladin was still angry at him. He could also hear Keith muttering under his breath about how they weren't going to find Matt. Lance simply smiled, off in his own world as he looked around the village. Suddenly, the blue paladin winked at one of the females, winking at them so that they giggled.

Shiro let out a disgusted groan but noted that there were quite a few types of aliens in the city. Keith continued to mutter, as the black paladin overheard the conversation of a research party coming in to gather supplies. Lance turned back to Shiro. "Maybe that research thingy…" The smile dropped from the blue paladin's face. "You know, maybe we won't be lucky. Keith's a hothead after all."

"Come on. I trusted Keith to lead Voltron, did I not."

"Seriously! I'm here Shiro! And I'm still pissed off at you for that!"

The black paladin stared at the other, the cogs in his mind taking in what Keith said regarding the leadership position. "Perhaps we need to talk later?"

"Talk! I told you earlier that we're _not_ going to _have_ a talk!" Keith's shoulders tensed up, before twisting around to head down an alleyway while Shiro took a deep breath.

"Yeah, we're so lucky Shiro. Keith's going to miss this…"

The black paladin glared at Lance, making the blue paladin swallow. He opened his mouth to say something about how Lance couldn't possibly know what it was like to have Keith's messed up life when someone called out from the alleyway indicating that someone had crashed into someone. Shiro took a deep breath, thinking his luck had indeed run out due to the red paladin suddenly losing it despite their conversations regarding Keith needing to keep his head and think things through.

Shiro headed down the alleyway with Lance following close behind. His lips twisted into a smile as Keith attempted to distract himself from the person he crashed into. The black paladin wasn't sure whether he should be worried or amused. Lance, however, seemed less than pleased. "Seriously! Keith, you've got to go and ruin everything for us."

" _I probably should tell Keith off for letting his temper get the better of him._ " Shiro's lips pushed together, the good, lucky feeling starting to slip away. His mouth opened, only for the stranger to open their mouth to speak.

Only, they weren't a stranger. "Shiro? Keith?"

A smile spread across Shiro's face, a laugh escaping from his mouth at the sound of Matt's voice. One of his hands reached up to rub the back of his neck at the lucky coincidence as Keith managed to stagger to his feet. Matt stood up, throwing his hood away revealing a face which was similar to Pidge's. A chuckle escaped Shiro's lips instead of a lecture. "Wow. What a lucky coincidence."

His amusement grew as a smile spread across Matt's face as his friend suddenly latched onto the red paladin, hugging him. "It's nice to see you, buddy."

Keith's facial features twisted into utter shock, his voice straining at the sudden discomfort. "Shiro! Make Matt stop hugging me!"

Lance, on the other hand, burst into laughter, falling over as the sound burst from his lungs. Shiro's smile deepened. Matt was the same age as him, but smaller than the red paladin. "Sorry, but no."

"Shiro! You're evil!"

"I know." A soft laugh escaped his lips. "But very, _very_ lucky buddy."


	5. Unlucky Draw

**Lucky Silver Sun  
** _ **Unlucky Draw**_

Keith felt unlucky.

Waves of emotion washed over him ever since Shiro disappeared, a cacophony of noise rattling around in his head. The noise worsened when they, the paladins of Voltron, finally found the older teen. His stomach performed flips, attempting to make sense of the cascading emotions, but also the feelings of guilt. Shiro came back quite unaware of the time which passed since they defeated Zarkon, but also seeming to have forgotten the emotional wreckage from finding out _that_.

The red paladin attempted to sleep away the feelings of anxiety, only to find himself sitting up and flicking on the light switch, allowing a cascade of light to wash over him, allowing him to bury his face into his hands, leaning over feeling like he was about to vomit. Galra scarred Shiro mentally and physically, and yet Keith was part Galra. Somehow, Shiro managed to say something uplifting.

" _Look. You're right in saying you're not like a brother to me Keith. The fact your part Galra, the fact you may not have the same mom, even the same dad. That doesn't change the fact you ARE my brother. I'm more hurt by the fact you think I would reject you because of this, than I am over something as trivial as blood relations. I'd die before I ever, ever hurt you on purpose._ "

Keith swallowed, standing up from where he sat, unable to sit still.

He moved to the door, the emotions still wracking his head. Kolivan surmised when Shiro disappeared that the disappearance was the result of some kind of mental pain the black paladin didn't wish to deal with, but instead was choosing to avoid. The chances of Shiro lying were slim, but Keith still didn't know if the reason behind Shiro's pain was that the older teen was indeed rejecting him, or that Shiro thought he'd hurt someone he cared about.

" _I'd die before I ever, ever hurt you on purpose._ "

Somehow, he found himself on the bridge, staring out into space. Allura joined him, unnoticed until she lightly touched his shoulder, leaning into his body. He took a deep, his eyes closing as his entire body relaxed. Despite only knowing Allura for a few months, the young paladin found himself quite comfortable around her, letting her presence melt into his personal space without complaint.

It seemed as if the day to day routine of the ship started up, moving along as if they hadn't found Shiro. In fact, it felt like the day before was just a dream. Hunk came onto the bridge, closely followed by Shiro. "I didn't see you at breakfast or lunch Keith."

"Oh." The red paladin turned. "You said the other day that you were needing to stalk up on supplies, right."

"What does that have to do with you not eating?"

"I wasn't really hungry. Lance, will you go with Hunk?"

"Hold on. No."

Keith took a deep breath, knowing full well the blue paladin was the only one who struggled with the fact he was serving as leader in Shiro's place. "Why not?"

"Because! It's not fair that you send us away just so you can spend more time with Shiro. Your already his favorite, you know. It's been that way since the garrison."

"And…"

"I want to spend some time with Shiro. Why don't we wake him up?"

"I told you last night that we needed to let him sleep in."

"Seriously! You're such a… a…"

"A what?" Keith folded his arms and glared at Lance, who glared back. Out of the corner of his eye, the red paladin noticed something black and turned his eyes slowly. The others hadn't yet noticed Shiro entering the room, or the dazed look on the black paladin's face.

"Um, good morning you guys?"

Keith's head turned now, looking Shiro over. The older paladin was out of it, and his worry made him hesitate. "Oh. Good Morning Shiro."

"Keith, it's not morning anymore. Seriously."

" _How many times can he use the word seriously in one conversation? And why's he miffed at me. I thought I was being polite._ " His eyes blinked, watching Shiro's mouth twist up into a smirk as a soft, familiar chuckle escaped the older teen's lips. Something amused him, so he thought carefully, realizing that good morning wasn't something to be said at this time of day, though why it couldn't be said in response to someone else's mistake didn't click. "Oh. That's right."

"I guess I slept in longer than I thought." Shiro's statement made Keith swallow, fighting back the urge to walk over and hug Shiro. After all, he was still acting as a leader of Voltron, but as a paladin he needed to take his role seriously. Pidge remained perky, and things seemed to be settling down. For some reason Shiro felt the need to change the subject to something Keith didn't want to talk about. "Then Keith's been a good leader?"

" _I wasn't a good leader. I never got Lance to really do what I asked him to without a fight. I failed, letting him down. Just like I did with the whole Blades of Marmora, digging into things I shouldn't have. There's no way that…"_ … things would go back the way they were before, between the two. It seemed like a wall was built, yet Shiro acted like that wall wasn't even there.

Pidge and Hunk felt he'd done a good job, but as Shiro pushed he and Lance both piped up with, "as if."

Shiro of course responded in a way only Shiro could, pointing to the fact they'd agreed on something. Thing seemed like they were going well, when the black paladin stepped in things, as people tend to refer to such situations. The older paladin brushed aside Lance's concerns, not realizing the nagging issue which persisted between the two which came to light when their previous leader disappeared.

" _Great! You're Shiro's favorite yet again!_ "

" _Do you really think that I want to be the leader? Or that…_ "

" _Stow, it Keith! You are his favorite. Always the teacher's pet!_ "

He stormed off to the training room, feeling hurt at Shiro's actions. He took a deep breath, trying to brush aside the nagging feeling that the black paladin did in fact favorite him, but how Shiro had made things worse. He tried taking deep breaths, " _Shiro didn't mean to. Shiro didn't know. It's been an entire year since he disappeared, so he has no idea what happened while he was gone._ "

"Are you alright?" Kolivan stood against the wall.

Keith startled. "What do you mean?"

"You missed your morning training session, but also didn't show up during meal time."

The red paladin's eyes darted to the ground, swallowing as he did so. "It's really nothing."

"Nothing?" The leader of Marmora took a deep breath. "You keep to a strict schedule. What changed between yesterday and today is the fact Takashi Shirogane is back."

"I'm glad. I don't enjoy being leader. But, I guess he really doesn't either." Keith looked up. "Do you?"

"It depends on what you mean by enjoy. If you mean do I enjoy how those I lead don't do what they're supposed to, no, that isn't enjoyable. That isn't to say there aren't positive things to being a leader."

"Well, I've no idea what they are."

"Perhaps one day you'll discover them. Enough on the subject, as it is time for your training session."

Things went well, and Keith started to feel better after the exercise despite having not fallen asleep the night before. He was out of breath, when Pidge came in walking right up to the two dueling figures, nearly getting knocked by Keith's swinging blade. The red paladin let out a yelp while Kolivan looked on in amusement. "Pidge! What the quiznack are you doing?"

"Keith! Shiro says you're still leader, so I have to ask you!"

Keith took a deep breath, realizing Shiro managed to in a matter of only a few hours make his life a living hell. " _Calm down. You know Shiro didn't mean it. It's not as if he's trying to get revenge, or something. I mean, it's not as if you did anything wrong. Nope. You did something wrong, but Shiro would never, ever stoop that low._ "


End file.
